29 LIVING ON MARS?

 

 

Astronaut: Light gray, material on either side. Oh man that's incredible...

    It seemed to back in the late 60s and early 70s as if America would be a space bearing nation. Plans were big, first the moon, then Mars.

    Instead man has been stuck making circles around the earth while robots go explore new worlds. Bases on Mars and other planets were designed on computer and forgotten.

Dr. Chris McKay (NASA): Certainly the case that we don't have as an aggressive a program of exploration as we had during Apollo. Humans now barely get beyond earth's lower orbit. But I think a day will come when humans will go to Mars and we will establish first research bases there and ultimately permanent settlements there.

    Scientists already suspect the red planet has water. Making oxygen and giving Mars a breathable atmosphere is at least theoretically possible. Something scientists are seriously talking about at NASA's Aims Research Center. It's a symposium¹ called “The Physics and Biology ofMaking Mars Habitable.” They're looking at ways Mars might be terra-formed and asking important questions not just, can we? but “hould we?” Is Mars ours to mess with? Is it ethical² to bring life to Mars?

Chris: I come down squarely on the side of life. I think Mars without life is a great place. It’s very interesting but Mars with life is even more interesting, more fascinating. And in a philosophical³ sense, more valuable.

Now scientists first have to figure out if there is life on Mars or perhaps there was some time before. If that's true, that would add a whole new ethical quandary⁴. Some of the ideas for terra forming perhaps sending atomic bombs to Mars and exploding them in the atmosphere. That would cause the greenhouse effect and begin the terra forming. Now there are no specific plans to do that. NASA is just studying the idea.

 

移居火星？

 

宇航员：两边都是浅灰色一片。天啦，太令人难以置信了……

　 这看起来像回到了六十年代末和七十年代初，美国要上太空的时代。规模宏大的计划，首先登月，然后是火星。

　 在机器人开始探索一个崭新的世界的时侯，实际上人们还停留在围绕地球旋转的阶段，用电脑设计出建立在火星和其他星球上的基地，接着又是遗忘。

克里斯·麦凯博士（美国宇航局研究员）∶当然这个开发计划比不上阿波罗登月时代的规模。人类现在很少飞越地球的低轨道。但我想，总有一天人类会到火星上建立起第一个研究基地，并最终在那里建立永久的定居点。

 　科学家已经猜测这颗红色的行星上有水。制造氧气和让火星拥有可供呼吸的空气至少在理论上是可行的。在美国宇航局的研究中心，科学家们正在认真地谈论着一些事情--一场名为“让火星适合人类居住的物理学和生物学”的讨论会。他们考虑在火星上“植地”的方法，他们所问的关键性问题不是仅仅“我们能否移居火星？”的问题，而是问“我们是否应该移居火星？”的问题。我们有权移居火星吗？将生命带到火星是否道德？

克里斯∶我赞成移居火星。我觉得，没有生命的火星是一个好地方，非常有趣。但有了生命的火星更有趣，更美丽。从哲学意义上说，更有价值。

　现在科学家正在推测火星上是否有生命，或者曾经有过。如果这是真的，那就真的在道德上陷入两难的境地。一些土地形成的观点是将原子弹送上火星，在空气中引爆。这会引起温室效应，继而形成土地。现在还没有具体的计划。美国宇航局正在研究这个观点。

 

 

 

1 symposium   

n.讨论会，专题报告会；专题论文集

参考例句：

• What have you learned from the symposium?你参加了这次科学讨论会有什么体会？
• The specialists and scholars present at the symposium come from all corners of the country.出席研讨会的专家学者们来自全国各地。

2 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

3 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

4 quandary   

n.困惑，进迟两难之境

参考例句：

• I was in a quandary about whether to go.我当时正犹豫到底去不去。
• I was put in a great quandary.我陷于进退两难的窘境。